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The British administration is being called upon to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional expenses amounting to almost £24.5m for the pair of official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Public Finance Minister McKee described the Westminster's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both visits were obviously official, pointing out that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Associated Policing Costs

The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie over a week-long period in the summer, while American VP Vance spent approximately four days in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the trips placed "significant strains and costs on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip alone was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were about £3m.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This extensive policing operation was the biggest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, special constables and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison stated: "Following your choice not to provide funding to Scotland for costs incurred in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the following visit of VP Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this decision and provide complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Response and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the visits were personal and "not part of official government duties." A representative added: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in the country as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the UK government reimbursed the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is understood that trip followed a official UK government invitation, in which case it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister Sir Keir meeting with the president, holding joint briefings with them, conducting international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a personal vacation."